Tag Archives: Cool Hand Luke

I received the invite to take part in Cinema Shame over two weeks ago. I had decided at the beginning of the year that I was going to knock as many titles off the shame list this year as possible, so it seemed only logical to make my shame public and share with you all a portion of my cinematic redemption. I have gone back and forth as to what titles I wanted to use for this project, and believe me it wasn’t easy to knock it down to twelve. So i tried to pick as varied a list as possible, featuring heavy hitters and genre classics both. Okay, let’s get it on…

My Cinema Shame List 2014 (in chronological order)

1. Rope (1948; Alfred Hitchcock)

2. Paths Of Glory (1957; Stanley Kubrick)

3. Rio Bravo (1959; Howard Hawks)

4. Lawrence Of Arabia (1962; David Lean)

5. Cool Hand Luke (1967; Stuart Rosenberg)

6. The Devils (1971; Ken Russell)

7. The French Connection (1971; William Friedkin)

8. Battles Without Honor & Humanity (1973; Kinji Fukasaku)

9. Salo, Or 120 Days Of Sodom (1975; Pier Paolo Pasolini)

10. The Deer Hunter (1978; Michael Cimino)

11. Irreversible (2002; Gaspar Noe)

12. Inland Empire (2006; David Lynch)

A few quick notes on my list:

1. Like I said, I tried to make this list as varied as possible so I could keep things fresh. Trust me there are certain genres that I could have devoted entire lists to (westerns, for example, are a pretty big blind-spot for me)

2. If I absolutely had to choose one decade that was my favorite for film, it would probably be the seventies. The fact that forty percent of my list are absolute genre staples from that decade, well I’m disgusted with myself, and you should all throw stones at me.

3. The title that I’m absolutely, positively, wholeheartedly filled with shame for never seeing is the most current on the list, Inland Empire. For two reasons. One, David Lynch has had a spot firmly cemented in my top three favorite directors for about twenty years now, so for me to have never seen this fills me with shame. To make matters worse…. I own the dvd. I’ve owned it for a few years now. It’s been neatly filed away in the “I”s on the shelf for quite some time and I have absolutely no excuse to have never watched it.

So…

Much….

Shame.

Alright, there you have it. I’m going to go start working on my redemption. Since I’m starting this late, I’ll have to double up on a couple of months. Not sure when, but you’ll know when I do! Cheers.

Having just sat down to compile this list I have been somewhat overwhelmed by the sheer amount of highly regarded films which I really ought to have seen by now. I already feel well and truly shamed. Do I have to publish this online? Oh well, there’s a mixture of time periods and styles in there which should keep things varied, I am embarrassed to admit one of these as I’m a huge Sergio Leone fan, and I’m pretty certain that I’ve saved the worst until last. Enjoy my embarrassment!